History of the company

The shipowning company F.A. Vinnen & Co. was founded in Bremen in 1819 under the name of E.C. Schramm & Co. .

The great grandfather of today's managing director Michael Vinnen, Friedrich Adolf Vinnen (1868-1926) renamed the company to F.A. Vinnen & Co. in 1912. At the same time the business moved to their new headquarters at Altenwall 21 in Bremen - overlooking the river Weser - from where they still operate today.

This makes F.A. Vinnen & Co. the oldest active shipping company in Bremen and one of the oldest in Germany. Starting with the import and export of tobacco, after some time on their own vessels, it was for a long time one of the big owners of sailing vessels.

For example in 1921 the four-mast barque "Magdalene Vinnen" was built for the company - then and still today the biggest sailing vessel in the world. Even until this day this ship sails the seven seas as the trainingship SS "Sedov" under the Russian flag.

After World War II, the shipping business was taken up again with modern motor vessels which were traded in world-wide tramp markets.

In the 1970's, F.A. Vinnen & Co. operated a regular liner service to Western Africa in close cooperation with EAL Europa Africa Linie. Since 1980, the company belongs to the Wünsche Group, since 1993 to Wünsche Handelsgesellschaft International.

The affiliation to this strong group guarantees the expansion and development of the company in future. Thus since the 1980's the company has invested in a fleet of modern container vessels.

Today 9 containerships with a capacity between 1.000 and 2.800 TEU are sailing the seven seas under the traditional blue and white house flag.